Can You Plant Tulips in Spring? The Honest Answer + How to Save This Year’s Bulbs
Tulips are a sure sign of spring, but can you plant bulbs now if you didn’t get around to it last fall? Yes you can, with our tips!
Quick Reference: Spring Tulip Planting
- Can you plant tulip bulbs in spring? Yes, but no bloom this year. Expected first bloom: next spring.
- Why: tulips need 12 to 16 weeks of cold dormancy (below 50 F) before they can flower. Fall planting gives them that naturally.
- What to do with a blooming spring tulip plant: let foliage die back, dig and store bulb in fall, replant outdoors.
- USDA zones for outdoor success: 3 to 7 (cold winters). Zones 8 to 9 require pre-chilling.
- Tool: the Almanac’s Best Days planting calendar for moon-aligned fall bulb planting.
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Related Almanac guides
Yes, you can plant tulip bulbs in the spring. No, they will not bloom this year. Tulips need 12 to 16 weeks of cold dormancy below 50 F before they can produce a flower bud, and a spring-planted bulb has not had that. This guide is the honest answer for spring-bought tulip bulbs, how to handle blooming florist-tulip pots after the holiday, and the fall-planting protocol that gives the best long-term results.
Why Tulips Need a Cold Dormant Period
Per UMN Extension and Cornell Cooperative Extension bulb research, tulips evolved in the mountain steppes of Central Asia where winters are reliably cold.
- Vernalization (the cold trigger): tulip bulbs require 12 to 16 weeks of soil temperature below 50 F to initiate flower bud formation.
- Fall planting works perfectly: bulbs go in October to November, get cold dormancy from December through March, bloom in April to May.
- Spring planting fails this year: no cold period means no bud. Bulb may produce leaves but no flower.
- Pre-chilling: for warm zones (8 to 10), refrigerate bulbs in paper bags at 35 to 40 F for 12+ weeks before planting.
- Treat tulips as annuals or biennials in warm zones. Even with pre-chilling, most do not return year over year in USDA zones 9+.
What to Do with a Spring Florist Tulip Pot
Easter and Mother’s Day tulip pots can become long-lived garden tulips if you handle them correctly.
- While blooming indoors: keep cool (60 to 65 F), in bright but not direct sunlight, water moderately.
- After flowers fade: cut spent blooms but leave foliage to die back naturally over 6 to 8 weeks.
- Once foliage is fully yellow: dig the bulbs, brush off soil, store in a paper bag in a cool dry place until October.
- October to November: plant outdoors 6 to 8 inches deep, 4 to 6 inches apart, pointy end up.
- Next spring: tulips bloom in your garden. May take 1 to 2 years to fully recover florist-forcing stress; some bulbs are spent after one year.
Tulip Planting, Care, and Hot-Climate Notes (Detail)
Below are the original sections on how to plant tulips, replanting blooming tulips, and planting in hot climates.
What About Replanting Blooming Tulips?
Those can still be planted outside, but you’ll need to be careful. For one thing, tulips that are grown in pots are often a selectively-bred variety that is more like an annual than a perennial. If you do plant it outside, don’t be surprised if it doesn’t come back the following year.
If you decide to plant your potted tulip anyway, then you’ll need to acclimate the plant to the outdoors. Do this by first placing the tulip in a shady spot. Every day or two, gradually move the tulip to a sunnier spot until it is receiving full, unfiltered sunlight. Then, dig a hole the size of the pot that the tulip is in. If you can, cut the pot away from the soil and place the tulip, soil and all, in the hole. If you can’t cut the pot away from the root ball, then do your best to leave the roots as undisturbed as possible when you remove the plant from the pot. Once planted, water well and then care for as you would any other tulip.
What About Planting Tulips in Hot Climates?
In USDA hardiness Zones 7 through 10, the ground may not get down to at least 50 degrees for the 14 weeks that tulips require to bloom. But fret not, there are a couple of things you can do to get around the laws of tulips.
If you want to grow traditional tulips, then you’ll need to dig up the bulbs each fall so that you can chill them in the refrigerator before planting. You can also keep your tulips in partial shade, where the ground stays a bit cooler.
Failing that, check out hybridized tulips that are designed to grow in warmer climates. Wild tulips, which are smaller than regular tulips, do well in Zones 7 and 8, as do Darwin Hybrids, which have been specially bred to withstand warmer temperatures. In Zones 9 and 10, you will almost certainly need to refrigerate tulip bulbs each year to get fresh blooms, no matter which variety you choose.
Spring Tulip Planting FAQ
Can I plant tulips in spring?
Yes, but they will not bloom this year. Tulip bulbs need 12 to 16 weeks of cold soil (below 50 F) to form a flower bud. A spring-planted bulb missed that cold period. Plant anyway and they will bloom the following spring.
What is the best time to plant tulips?
Fall, specifically October to November in USDA zones 3 to 7. Soil should still be workable but cool (around 50 to 55 F). The bulbs root over fall and winter and bloom in April to May.
Will spring-bought tulip bulbs bloom this year?
No. Even if planted immediately on receipt, the bulbs have no flower bud yet. They will produce only leaves this year and need a full winter chill before next spring’s bloom.
What can I do with my Easter tulip pot after it stops blooming?
Let the foliage die back naturally over 6 to 8 weeks indoors. Once fully yellow, dig the bulbs and store cool and dry until fall. Plant outdoors in October. May take 1 to 2 years to bloom strongly again.
Can I grow tulips in a hot climate?
With pre-chilling, yes for one bloom; long-term reliable return in USDA zones 9+ is rare. Most gardeners in warm zones buy pre-chilled bulbs in fall, plant in late November to early December, and treat them as one-year annuals.
How deep do you plant tulip bulbs?
6 to 8 inches deep (measured to the bottom of the bulb), 4 to 6 inches apart, pointed end up. Per UMN Extension, deeper planting (8 inches) gives better return year over year than shallower planting (4 inches).
Amber Kanuckel
Amber Kanuckel is a freelance writer from rural Ohio who loves all things outdoors. She specializes in home, garden, environmental, and green living topics.
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- Amber Kanuckel
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I want to move my tulips. Can I dig them up now and replant them where I want them or do I have to wait til fall. I need to get them out now while I know where they are at.
Hi, I received Tulips for Easter. They have already bloomed, can I still plant them in my garden. We live in Canada & the weather is getting mild at night?
Hi Deborah, just follow the instructions in the article to acclimate the plant.
Can I plant tulip bulbs in January in England? The ground is quite soft and the bulbs have been kep in the garage and are showing some signs of shoots?
I am in NC and did not plant my tulips in the fall. Is it ok to plant them now in April?
I purchased Tulips from Costco there were 12 bulbs in water now they have bloomed can I plant them now ? I live in Boise Idaho.
Hi Dilene, where are you located? You can transplant tulip bulbs as soon as frost danger has passed in spring. It sounds like these bulbs were “forced”… Forcing uses up a lot of the plant’s energy, but it’s still possible to transplant the used bulbs outdoors for future blooming. It may take two years before transplanted tulips bloom again after growing in pots.
When can u plant tulips
Hi
For years we had wonderful tulips with really no maintenance. We just let them multiply by themselves. But the last two years have been disastrous, only a few came up and they where small and didn’t flower well.We live in Canada so there is plenty of cold for them.
We transplanted them and fertilized when we redid the flower bed. That was two years ago about the time they quit growing. Any ideas why??
Thanks in advance
Dareau
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